Blogs from Netherlands, Europe - page 397

Geo: 52.3738, 4.89095Amsterdam.Botanical gardens.Nickelodeon... read more

Here is me freezing in the winter cold of Amsterdam... nice city though. ... read more

Well, tell you what. I have relatives in the Netherlands, and this trip is a good opportunity to reconnect with my other side of family. Dad is the youngest of all seven kids; Grandpa and my oldest uncle were killed in the 1940s during Japanese occupation when dad was three years old. Twako (lit. means “the oldest aunt” in Chinese Fujian dialek) is the oldest sibling, and she took care of the rest of the kids, and she naturally became a second mother for my dad. During the Indonesian revolution in 1960s, she, along with another aunt, immigrated to the Netherlands with all of their family of total seven children. Twako has four kids, Ci Irene (my dad’s old playing mate before she moved to the Netherlands), Ci Wie Mei, and Ko Maarten, all of whom ... read more

So I got the last train for the night train from Copenhagen to Duisburg Germany. (i have not been able to locate it on a map, my best guess is that it is near Dusseldorf and not too far from Colonge). The seat happened to be in a 6 person smoking cabin... that did not have beds. The 3 Russian-Swedes to my left and across were quite drunk... well 2 were, and the 3rd was ok, not nearly as sketchy as his friends. To my right were a pair of 18 year old Danish boys en route to Amsterdam. One was a chain smoker, but a nice guy, the other was silent ansd stayed up reading all night. Two of the russians passed out immediately and the one sitting next to the not sketchy one fell ... read more

Our first stop is Zaanse Schans. The area was named 'De Zaanse Schans' after a trench was built in 1574 to hold back Spanish troops during the eighty year war between the Netherlands and Spain. Zaanse Schans was built up on dikes. The dikes were probably built as early as the thirteenth century, the first villages were built along these at a later date. Until late in the last century these were typical 'dike-villages'. In the beginning of the 18th century there were about 500 windmills in the area, of which very few are in operation today. Zaanse Schans has a few windmills that are operating and they include: an oil mill, a paint mill, a mustard mill and a sawmill. Other places to see include a cheese-making dairy, an old bakery, a grocer's shop, a ... read more